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Acts 16:6-9  THE MACEDONIAN CALL 

Introduction:  

	Paul and Silas have re-visited the churches in Cilicia which Paul and 
Barnabas had earlier organized.  They had sought to strengthen those churches 
doctrinally and spiritually.    
	At the city of Lystra Paul had persuaded a young preacher by the name of 
Timothy to join his missionary team.  In our text the three of them (Paul, Silas 
and Timothy) leave the province of Cilicia to go out to unreached  areas to 
preach the gospel.  
	Our text records the work of the Holy Spirit calling them to go into 
Macedonia to preach.     

I.  Their work in Phrygia and Galatia

	V. 6, “Now when they had gone throughout Phrygia and the region of 
Galatia...”  Before telling about the Macedonian Call Luke tells about Paul and 
his mission team doing mission work in the provinces of Phrygia and Galatia.  
Phrygia and Galatia were Roman provinces in what is now called Turkey.  
	Luke says that they went “throughout” Phrygia and Galatia.  If he had said 
that they went “”through” rough” those areas we would understand that they 
merely passed through but did no mission work there.  
	But by saying that they went “throughout Phrygia dnd Galatia” implies that 
they went to all of the major cities of those two provinces and did much mission 
work there.  
	Luke does not tell us what cities they visited nor what was accomplished 
in those e cities.  We do know that churches were established in Galatia because 
Paul wrote a letter to those churches and indicated in the letter that he was 
involved in the organization of those churches.  It is safe to assume that the 
Holy Spirit blessed their ministry in both provinces and that churches were 
organized by them in both provinces.  
	We note also that Luke spoke of the mission team using the pronoun “they.”  
This indicates that he was not in the group.  Later he will use the pronoun “we” 
indicating that by that time he is with the group.  
	
II.  Paul’s desire to preach in Asia

	(V. 6), “...and were forbidden of the Holy Ghost to preach the word in 
Asia.”  The word, Asia, as used in this verse does not refer to the continent of 
Asia as we use the word today.  Paul had already been preaching in the continent 
that we know as Asia.  Rather the word “Asia” here  refers to a Roman province 
by that namewhich was within the land that we know as Turkey.  Just as Phrygia 
and Galatia were provinces within this part of what now is Turkey, even so the 
Asia referred to in this text was likewise a province or district.
	But having gone throughout the provinces of Phrygia and Galatia, Paul now 
desired to move on and to go into the province of Asia and preach.  This 
province lay just west of Phrygia and Galatia.  At this time Paul had never 
preached in the province of Asia, but he desired to go there and preach.  Paul, 
being the head of the mission team, that is what they would have done had it not 
been for the interference of the Holy Spirit.  Luke says that they were 
forbidden by the Holy Spirit to move in to Asia as Paul desired to do.  
	Now we should note that the Holy Spirit did not object to the gospel being 
preached in the province of Asia.  Neither did He object to Paul preaching 
there.  In fact He would later lead Paul there and bless his ministry there.  
What the Holy Spirit objected to was for Paul and his mission team to go there 
at this point of time.  But the Holy Spirit had another territory where He 
wanted Paul and his mission team to go at this particular time rather than Asia.  
Yet Paul’s desire to go to Asia was so strong that the Holy Spirit had to forbid 
Paul to go there in order to get him to go where He wanted him to go right at 
this time.      

III.  Paul’s desire to preach in Bithynia

	V. 7, “After they were come to Mysia, they assayed to go into Bithynia: 
but the Spirit suffered them not.”  Mysia is another Roman province which lay 
directly north of the province of Asia.  Note first that there is no record that 
they did any preaching even in Mysia.  It appears that they merely traveled 
there with the intent of moving into the province of Bithynia, which bordered 
Mysia on the east.  Since the Holy Spirit had forbidden them to go into Asia at 
this time, Paul had his eye on Bithynia as the next province which he and his 
team would visit and preach.  But again the Holy Spirit of God interfered with 
his plans.  
		V. 8, “And they passing by Mysia came down to Troas.”  Note the word 
“they” in this verse also.  This indicates that Luke is still not with them at 
this time.  Note also the expression “...they passing by Mysia...”  This means 
that they passed along the border of Mysia.  They did not stop and preach at any 
of the cities of Mysia.  They may have stopped overnight for rest, but they did 
not stay.  They moved on until they came to the city of Troas.  
	Since Paul had wanted to go into Asia and was forbidden to do so, and then 
he wanted to go into Bithynia and was prevented from doing so, Paul and his 
group must have been rather frustrated at this time.  Paul must have felt that 
they were accomplishing nothing.  They were just spinning their wheels.  I 
cannot be sure what he had in mind when he headed for Troas, but I think I know.  
Troas was a seaport city.  I think Paul intended to catch a ship and head back 
home to their sponsoring church.  Whatever his plans may have been the Lord had 
other plans.

IV.  Paul’s vision and the Macedonian call

  	V. 9, “And a vision appeared to Paul in the night; There stood a man of 
Macedonia, and prayed him, saying, Come over into Macedonia, and help us.”  
While the wee at Troas God gave Paul a vision in which he saw a man of Macedonia 
pleading with Paul to come over to Macedonia and to help the people there.  
Macedonia is the country that we know as Greece.  
	There was no doubt in Paul’s mind that this vision was God’s way of 
letting him know where he was to go.  It now became clear to him why the Holy 
Spirit had forbid him to go into Asia to preach at this time.  It also became 
clear to him why the Holy Spirit had prevented him from going into Bithynia.  
The Lord wanted him to go into Greece and God wanted him to go there without 
delay.  Macedonia was ripe unto the harvest.  The people of Macedonia were 
disillusioned with the worship of idol gods.  They had a yearning in their 
hearts to worship the True and Living God whom they were persuaded does exist.  
But they knew nothing about this God.  They actually longed for someone to come 
to them who would tell them about the true God.  If Paul had gone into Asia or 
to Bithynia he would have been their a long time.  God wanted him to go to 
Macedonia and He wanted him to go there now.  So God used the vision to call for 
Paul and his mission team to go to Macedonia and preach the gospel of the Lord 
and Savior Jesus Christ.  

 IV.  Some important lessons for us from this passage

	One of the things this passage of Scripture teaches us is that the Holy 
Spirit of God seeks to lead every child of God.   “For as many as are led by the 
Spirit of God, they are the sons of God,”  Rom. 8:14.  One way that the Holy 
Spirit leads is by direct revelation from God.  The Holy Spirit directed Paul by 
direct revelation.  We are not certain whether or not the Holy Spirit spoke 
directly to him when forbidding him to go into Asia and Bithynia, but He could 
have and may have.  But we do know that the Spirit of God used a direct 
revelation from God through the vision.  He dealt directly with Paul and 
revealed to him that He wanted Paul to go into Macedonia.  
	One of the ways that the Holy Spirit seeks to lead Christians today is by 
the revealed word of God, the Holy Bible.  The Holy Spirit always leads in 
harmony with the teachings of the Bible.  He never leads anyone to do contrary 
to the teachings of the Bible.  We are to study the Bible and rightly divide it.  
Then we are to believe it and seek to follow its teachings in our lives.  We are 
to do the things which the Bible teaches us to do and we are to refrain from the 
things which the Bible teaches that we ought not to do.  
	Another way that the Holy Spirit leads is by circumstances.  The Holy 
Spirit prevented Paul from going to Asia and Bithynia to do mission work.  By 
placing us in certain circumstances He may prevent us from doing some things 
which we want to do.  At least our flesh nature may want to do them.  We ought 
to be thankful that He does prevent us from doing them.  There are times that He 
prevents us from getting into a lot of trouble that we would have gotten into.  
	There is another way that the Holy Spirit seeks to lead us which is not 
mentioned in our text, but it is taught in the Scriptures.  He indwells the 
inward spirit of each born-again person.  Through His presence within us, He 
sometimes impresses certain things upon our hearts and minds.  For instance it 
is through the indwelling spirit that He lets each child of God know that he is 
a child of God.  We read in Romans 8:16,   “The Spirit itself beareth witness 
with our spirit, that we are the children of God.”  In a similar way He leads 
certain men to preach the gospel.  In a similar way He may lead any child of God 
to do the will of God.  He always seeks to get every child of God to do right 
instead of wrong.  Not that we always following His leading.  But He never 
fails.  We are the ones who may fail.  
	Another thing which we learn from this passage is that the Holy Spirit 
does not always lead in the way which the child of God would have Him to lead.  
Paul wanted the Spirit to lead him to do mission work in Asia or Bithynia, but 
the Holy Spirit did not lead that way.  I have known men who said that they were 
being led by the Holy Spirit of God, but they did not want to be led in that 
direction and they resisted His leadership.  The Holy Spirit leads all of us in 
some way in which our flesh nature does not want to go.  Therefore, we resist 
His leadership and do not follow --- at least not all the time.  
	But fortunately for every child of God there is a part of us deep down 
within that really and truly wants to do the will of God.  This part of us 
always wants us to do the will of God.  It is this part that helps us to succeed 
in following the leadership of the Holy Spirit at least a part of the time.  
	I want to call your attention to something else.  One of the ways that God 
seeks to lead the saved and get them to do His will is by chastisement.  When 
His children do wrong, God chastens them.  By the chastisement He is trying to 
tell that saved person not to do that again.  Listen, did you ever get the 
feeling “It looks like God is trying to tell me something”?  

Conclusion:

	If you are saved the Holy Spirit is trying to get you to live the way that 
God wants you to live.  Will you do it?
	If you are unsaved the Holy Spirit is trying to get you to see yourself as 
a lost sinner and is trying to get you to call upon the Lord Jesus Christ asking 
Him to save your soul.  Will you do it?  Will you do it now?